Apple 'working on smaller, cheaper iPad'

Apple is working on a smaller and cheaper iPad model in bid to beat off competition from Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire, according to a report.

It is understood Apple is developing a new tablet with a smaller 7.85 inch screen (compared to the current 9.7 inch screen) – which is likely to retail for a lot less than the latest £320 iPad, The New York Timesreports – citing several people “with knowledge of the project”.

According to these sources, Apple will announce these plans later this year.

Competition in the tablet space is heating up stateside with Google’s Nexus 7 having just begun shipping in the US and Amazon’s Kindle Fire already on the market.

Microsoft will also be releasing Surface, its own tablet, announced earlier this summer.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

It is understood that this approach is part of Apple’s ‘textbook strategy’ – whereby it creates different sized and priced iPads to try and keep people just buying iPads rather than any other tablets.

It adopted a similar approach with the iPod (developing the nano and the shuffle) in order to keep competitors at bay with their own MP3 players.

Leslie Grandy, a former Apple manager who is now a consultant and an adviser to start-up companies, told The New York Times that a smaller iPad could be especially appealing to people who do not now carry their iPads with them because they are too large and heavy.

Grandy said a seven inch device was a good size for women’s handbags.

“I really do feel like this is the sweet spot for them,” Grandy added.